Organization of extension service in Greece

ACID 2nd Meeting – Leon 02-05July 2013

Organization of extension service in Greece

Establishment - Greek Extension Service: a first systematic State attempt implementing an integrated system of advisory work and occupational training for peasants (1950).

Aim: the re-organisation of the agricultural sector (in both productive and social terms), ruined after World War II & Civil War

50's-half 60's ("golden age“): the Service was very effective. a. massive and well co-ordinated mobilisation of the staff (agronomists) "change agents" educational role explicitly aiming at changing farmers’ attitudes towards modernisation with ‘progressive farmers’ constituting their primary target-group. b. Problems were relatively easily solved due to existing technical knowledge & new/improved inputs.

Results: - self-sufficiency in strategic food crops by the end of the 1950s- establishment of the first Agricultural Training Centres (1960), educational duties addressed much more efficiently and effectively.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND


> mid 60's the problems of the agricultural sector change.

Extension Service does NOT seem able to tackle more complicated issues which are NOT solved by an increase of production per se (e.g. marketing considerations, introduction of new dynamic cultivations)

“Change agents” Advisors

The Service provided advice, mainly of technical nature, usually upon request

bureaucratic tasks (civil servants in offices)

The GAP was filled by agronomists :• working for private companies • establishing their own local commercial enterprises

promoting, in both cases, all kinds of commercial inputs.

agronomists antagonistists of extensionists

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND




CONTEMPORARY SETTING

Greece in the EC (1981): the administrative burden of the C.A.P. implementation is automatically designated to the Extension Service.

And this requires that Greek farmers have to become competitive entrepreneurs.

Change agent Advisor Change agent, yet in a different way to 50's & 60's.

As NO major functional re-structuring of the Service has taken place, extensionists have been and still are trapped in a bureaucratic/administrative role.

Tasks: - to administer farmers’ applications for subsidies - to verify farmers’ statements (through controls).


Farming Advisory System (FAS)An important element of the 2003 EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.

Important: It concerns the discontinuance of the link between farming subsidies and (volume of) production.

Farmers, in order to be able to receive support (payments), have to respect environmental, food safety, and animal welfare legislation, as well as the maintenance of the farm in good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAEC).

This link between the payments to farmers & respect of compulsory standard: Cross Compliance

The FAS (i.e. advisory activity) has been introduced through Regulation (EC) N° 1782/2003






FAS Implementation in Greece

Launched in 2006 and established in 2007 (as required by the EU Regulation). In the first place (2006), agronomists were called to submit applications to become certified as advisors within the FAS: -- 638 independent agronomists -- 30 so-called advisory structures (such as agricultural co-operatives or agronomists’ companies) with 92 agronomists were certified.

Minimum requirements: -- university degree and at least two years of professional experience as well as that they do not work either for a public agency (including HEIs) or as dealers of agro-inputs.

Furthermore, specific training related to the objectives of FAS and relevant policies started in Dec/2008. Out of those registered, 39 independent agronomists and 16 structures (with 58 agronomists of which 4 agricultural co-operatives with 8 agronomists), i.e. 97 agronomists, actively participated in the programme.


Additionally, the Service maintains an educational function, although to a limited extent, through a semi-autonomous training service.

Main training activities are carried out through the local Agricultural Training Centres offering short term training (i.e. 150 hours) for farmers and new entrants to agriculture as related to their access in the EU modernisation schemes (R. 2328/91/EC) and the Young Framers’ programme, respectively.

- ‘Young Farmers Programme - (R. 797/85/EEC; 2328/91/EC; R. 1257/99/EC) ’, a programme established by EU and the Greek state since ‘90s, provides economic incentives to young men and women (up to 40 years old) who enter or are newly established in farming, in an effort to enhance the renewal of the farming population. A requirement of the programme is the training of YFs for at least 150 hours within 3 years after their access to the programme (see: Kaberis & Koutsouris, 2013).




Overall, unsatisfactory factors include:a. lack of central programming related to the specific character/needs of the localities; b. the lack of organised training materials;c. the lack of a valid evaluation procedure;d. the inadequate duration and timing of the offered courses;e. the lack of appropriately qualified personnel with specific educational tasks (Koutsouris, 1994).

Specifically, Kaberis & Koutsouris (2013) report:“Indifference’ towards training- Clientism”There is a continuous suspicion that the Extension Service invites ‘their own people’ to the seminars held in the framework of the ‘Young Farmers’ programme (clientelism), which along the lack of interest in specialised, scientific knowledge are the major facets of the problem ‘agricultural training’.

“Experience is important” most of their knowledge on farming is based on the transfer of parental knowledge through their active involvement in the everyday work in the fields; the exchange of experiences with their closest social environment follows in importance.



Ref.Kaberis, N. & Koutsouris, A. (2013). Under pressure: young farmers in marriage markets – Greek case study. Sociologia Ruralis 53, 74-94.


Lack of training in Agricultural Extension of the Greek agronomists at university level results in the top-down, expert-led extension (and knowledge) system. Following Ingram (2008), the Greek situation clearly identifies with extension systems in which agronomists have the role of

experts who disseminate technical information highly dependent upon them farmers. towards

Private agronomists’ commercial interests are further shown to result in farmers’ exploitation andmanipulation leading to distrust and suspicion on the part of the farmers.



Ref.Ingram, J. (2008) Agronomist–farmer knowledge encounters: an analysis of knowledge exchange in the context of best management practices in England. Agriculture & Human Values 25: 405–418.



THE PROBLEM

- a painful process of bureaucratisation which led to its almost absence from rural development

- The Service’s homogeneous development policy and ideology has actually been operating a limited ‘progressive farmer strategy’ especially relating to the plain, irrigated areas of the country

A)-"dynamic" farmers in the plains who besides favourable agro-climatic conditions and resources also have, on social terms, access to the service tend to be satisfied with the extension service.

B)- the information and training needs of other categories of farmers in the plains are largely ignored.



THE PROBLEM

C)- Exclusion of “dynamic” farmers in the less favoured areas from the modernisation schemes. Here, special measures with special emphasis on the socio-economic survival of the communities is required.

- In those areas, distance from the local offices, lack of the proper social networks, difficulty to meet the Regulations' requirements The extension service is considered to be bureaucratic, not easily accessible for advice, without any significant contribution to development.

D)- "intermediate" and "less dynamic" farmers mainly located in non-prosperous areas are concerned, they seem to be satisfied from the mode of operation of the extension service. This can be attributed to their age and conditions of farming; with no modernisation prospects they feel satisfied since they have the opportunity to gain money through the mechanism of subsidies and compensatory allowances without which they would face difficulties in survival. Consequently, they do not feel any attraction to agricultural training.



PROSPECTS

Policy levelNew operational frameworks are currently promoted by the Ministry in order to:a. amalgamate various divisions;b. unify semi-autonomous training service with research and certification of quality products;c. create a new division with the single task of administrating all kinds of the C.A.P. subsidies, thus discharging the extension service from such a burden.

Also requiredRe-organization of the training division of the service

Agronomic education changesa) the abandonment of mono- disciplinary and reductionist science in favour of trans-disciplinarity; b) a change from transmissive learning to transformative learning, i.e. to constructive and participative

learning (Koutsouris, 2009).

Ref.Koutsouris, A. (2009) Sustainability, cross disciplinarity and Higher Education – From an agronomic point of view. Journal of US-China Education Review 6, 13-27.


CurriculumProducts


- Competences


- QA


Organization of extension service in Greece

Documents

greek farmers

farmers applications

progressive farmers

farmers statements

agricultural sector

changing farmers attitudes

s establishment

agricultural training